Maddow, who was one of Olbermann's closest allies at MSNBC--and who owed her career there in large part to his support of her--was tight-lipped, saying only that the decision had been a mutual one.

"i know very little about it," she said. "All I know is that it was between Keith and the company, it didn't involve any of the rest of us, and he was really gracious and nice when he left."

Maher said that, in his opinion, the show went "downhill" when Olbermann started retooling his "Worst Persons In The World" segment. "Stop organizing life around the people who don't get the joke," he said. "F--k them if they don't get a joke."